Another question about chicken stopped laying

[cjpines]

Time of year could very well be the issue. It's normal for chickens to stop laying around mid winter. You can tell if a hen is laying by inspecting her vent and pelvic structure, as well as a less reliable indicator in her facial and leg coloring. Some folks worm their birds regularly. Some folks only do when they see signs of worms: worms visible in feces. Then, others cull birds who have worms, which if they are breeding their own chicks will eventually lead to a flock which has a higher parasite resistance. You might take some feces to a local vet for a fecal float test to see if worms are the problem. Personally, I'd not worm a bird unless I saw worms. Then, if i felt it necessary, I'd worm the whole flock. BTW, there is no one right answer here: different goals and stewardship methods for different folks.

Good answer, thank you. I think I'll inspect the feces first.

 

[cjpines]

The posts here suggested deworming her. I have no idea if she has worms or not.

What I mean is I have not noticed any worms in her feces.

 

[enola]

There are many types of worms that can kill chickens that you will never see. Actually the worms that are visible to the naked eye, are probably not the most deadly ones.

When a chicken gets sick, what we are trying to tell you is we do the simplest things first to try to get the chicken back on track. Once you have determined that a chicken is not crop bound or egg bound, the next thing we do is treat for worms or coccidia.

Of course it is up to you to decide which advice to take. Keep us posted!

 

[Outpost JWB]

I would try the new nest box and the fake egg 1st. I would watch their behavior and make sure she is not being bullied. I currently have a Dixie Rainbow chicken (the biggest hen in the flock) and she is being bullied. She does not even sleep on the roost. She sleeps on the ground with has caused her to get vent gleet because we have earth floor coop.

Word of caution:
Make sure to read up on worming if you do choose to go that route. Many wormers have an egg withdrawal period. There are many arguments about them. Let us know how it all turns out please

 

[cjpines]

There are many types of worms that can kill chickens that you will never see. Actually the worms that are visible to the naked eye, are probably not the most deadly ones.

When a chicken gets sick, what we are trying to tell you is we do the simplest things first to try to get the chicken back on track. Once you have determined that a chicken is not crop bound or egg bound, the next thing we do is treat for worms or coccidia.

Of course it is up to you to decide which advice to take. Keep us posted!

Okay, thank you

 

[cjpines]

I would try the new nest box and the fake egg 1st. I would watch their behavior and make sure she is not being bullied. I currently have a Dixie Rainbow chicken (the biggest hen in the flock) and she is being bullied. She does not even sleep on the roost. She sleeps on the ground with has caused her to get vent gleet because we have earth floor coop.

Word of caution:
Make sure to read up on worming if you do choose to go that route. Many wormers have an egg withdrawal period. There are many arguments about them. Let us know how it all turns out please

Yes, that is what I was going to do read up on worming also symptoms of a chicken with worms. Thank you

 

[cjpines]

There are many types of worms that can kill chickens that you will never see. Actually the worms that are visible to the naked eye, are probably not the most deadly ones.

When a chicken gets sick, what we are trying to tell you is we do the simplest things first to try to get the chicken back on track. Once you have determined that a chicken is not crop bound or egg bound, the next thing we do is treat for worms or coccidia.

Of course it is up to you to decide which advice to take. Keep us posted!

I would try the new nest box and the fake egg 1st. I would watch their behavior and make sure she is not being bullied. I currently have a Dixie Rainbow chicken (the biggest hen in the flock) and she is being bullied. She does not even sleep on the roost. She sleeps on the ground with has caused her to get vent gleet because we have earth floor coop.

Word of caution:
Make sure to read up on worming if you do choose to go that route. Many wormers have an egg withdrawal period. There are many arguments about them. Let us know how it all turns out please

We've decided to wait until spring to see if she lays. She's very healthy, acts normal. Don't want to deworm now.

 

[Outpost JWB]

Sounds good. Mine lay almost year round. They take a break usually from November until end of December. We have a small light (40watt) in the coop and it helps with the otherwise lessened daylight.

 

[cjpines]

Sounds good. Mine lay almost year round. They take a break usually from November until end of December. We have a small light (40watt) in the coop and it helps with the otherwise lessened daylight.

We have a light in the coop also for really cold days and nights.

I'm thinking when she stopped laying late Aug she began to molt in Sept. Probably her hormones were changing then.

It's January and we're having spring like weather, she's looking into the nest box probably thinking it's spring. Hum! crazy weather we're having and no rain.

 

[Sandywitch]

I have two cuckoo marans, a barred rock, and a buff orpington. Usually the marans lay an egg every other day, so they take turns! It's snowed here, and the girls tentatively stepped out of their coop onto the chicken ladder, then flew down and quickly got under the coop where there was no snow!

However, they have been laying pretty regularly! We did add some red pepper flakes to their food, mainly to keep them warm, but it must be working to keep them laying! We have a small light strip in the coop that goes off at 10:00 every night so that they get their rest. We have a big red light in there in case it ever gets TOO cold, but haven't used it, and it's gotten down to near zero at night a few nights. But we use the deep litter method, so that is helping to keep them warm. We have a thermometer in the coop that we can read inside the house, and the temperature is usually about 9-11 degrees warmed in the coop at night than it is outside. We have a 5-gallon food grade plastic bucket with water for them with two drinking nipples on the bottom hanging in the coop, and a water heater in it that only goes on if the water temperature reaches 34 so that it doesn't freeze. So far, so good! We have one outside, but emptied it for the winter, so they have to go inside if they want a drink. Their pellet food is a large metal feeder that also hangs in the coop, so we don't have to fill it so often. They can't poop in either. We have a camera in the coop so that we can see if the food or water gets low.

There for a while, one of the girls would get stuck lollygagging on the floor of the coop when 10:00 rolled around, the light would go out, and they couldn't see to get up on their roost! It was hysterical! Then Daddy would go out and turn the light on manually until the little lost lamb hopped up on the roost! LOL!!!

They have since decided to get up there a bit earlier so they wouldn't get caught in the dark on the coop floor.

Right now I can't see in the coop via the camera because Java updated and the applet people haven't figured out how to work around a glitch yet.

However, Hubby can still see them via his cell phone!

So far, so good! That is all!